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Updates

PadForge checks GitHub for new versions and installs them from its Settings page.

The Updates card in Settings, after a check

The Updates card sits in Settings, between Window and Input Engine. It first shipped in PadForge 4.5.3. Version 4.5.2 and older have no updater, so updating from them takes one download from the latest release. Every version from 4.5.3 on updates itself.

The switches

Setting Default What it does
Check for Updates Automatically On Checks 20 seconds after PadForge starts, then every 12 hours while it runs.
Install Updates Automatically Off Downloads a new version in the background and installs it the next time PadForge starts. Shown only while the automatic check is on.
Include Pre-Releases Off Also offers the dev build of the latest commit, which gets fixes and features first and has had less testing. A newer release is still offered when the dev build has nothing newer.

Each switch has a Reset button beside it.

The buttons

  • Check Now checks right away, whether or not the automatic check is on.
  • Install and Restart appears once a newer version is found. It downloads that version if it is not downloaded yet, closes PadForge, puts the new PadForge.exe in place of the old one, and starts it again.
  • Release Notes appears beside it and opens that version's page on GitHub.

When an automatic check finds a new version, the status bar says so as well: PadForge 4.5.4 is available. Install it from Settings.

What an install does

  1. PadForge downloads the zip built for your PC's processor: win-x64 on an x64 PC, win-arm64 on an ARM64 PC. The machine decides, so an x64 copy running under emulation on an ARM64 PC moves to the ARM64 build.
  2. It checks the download against the SHA-256 checksum GitHub publishes for that file and refuses it on any mismatch. From the zip it takes PadForge.exe and nothing else.
  3. PadForge closes. The downloaded copy saves a copy of the old PadForge.exe, then writes itself over it and checks the result.
  4. The new version starts with the arguments the old one had, so a copy started with --profile comes back with it. The status bar reads PadForge was updated to 4.5.4 (r3700@1a2b3c4).

Nothing is written beside PadForge.exe. The download, the copy of the old version and the record of an install waiting for the next start all live in %TEMP%\PadForge_Update. Once PadForge has run for 20 seconds with no check or download under way, it deletes the old copy and every download except one still waiting to install.

PadForge already runs elevated, so an install asks for no second UAC prompt.

Installing at the next start

With Install Updates Automatically on, a check that finds a new version downloads it in the background, and the card says PadForge 4.5.4 is downloaded and installs the next time PadForge starts. The next launch installs it before the window opens and then starts the new version.

That launch installs it only while both automatic switches are still on and Include Pre-Releases is set as it was when the download ran. Turning a switch off drops the waiting install. An install that starts and does not finish is reported once and is not retried at that launch, so a bad download cannot restart PadForge in a loop: The update to PadForge 4.5.4 did not finish installing. Install it from Settings to try again.

When PadForge is slow to close

The new copy waits for the old one to exit. After two minutes, and every two minutes after that, it asks whether to keep waiting. OK keeps waiting and Cancel skips this update. Either way, PadForge starts again once it has closed.

Pre-releases

With Include Pre-Releases on, the check reads the rolling dev build as well as the latest release. Every push to the development branch rebuilds it, and it is named after the commit it was built from, for example PadForge r3690@c4a1b2d: r3690 is the commit count and c4a1b2d the short commit hash. The card shows it as Pre-release r3690 (c4a1b2d) is available.

Every build between two releases carries the same version number, so dev builds compare by commit count. When a newer dev build and a newer release are both on offer, the dev build wins, unless the release has a higher major version than yours: each major version has a dev feed of its own.

The card and Diagnostics show the running build the same way. 4.5.3 (r3682@176208e) is version 4.5.3, built from commit 176208e, with 3682 commits in its history. A build made without git shows the version alone.

Changing Include Pre-Releases drops any offer on the card and anything waiting to install. With the automatic check on, PadForge then checks again on the channel you picked.

What PadForge sends

The check talks to GitHub and nothing else: api.github.com for the release information, and github.com and its download servers for the file. The only data PadForge sends is its own version number. There is no account, no sign-in and no telemetry.

GitHub allows 60 unauthenticated requests an hour from one address. PadForge's checks stay far inside that, but a network whose users share one address can spend it, and then the card says GitHub is limiting requests from this network. Try again later.

With Check for Updates Automatically off, the updater contacts nothing until you click Check Now.

Messages

Message What it means
Checking for updates… A check started with Check Now is running.
PadForge 4.5.3 (r3682@176208e) is up to date. Nothing newer on the channels you picked.
PadForge 4.5.4 is available. A newer release. Install and Restart and Release Notes appear.
Pre-release r3690 (c4a1b2d) is available. A newer dev build, with Include Pre-Releases on.
Downloading the update: 42% The download is running.
PadForge 4.5.4 is downloaded and installs the next time PadForge starts. Install Updates Automatically has it ready.
Could not check for updates: HTTP 503 GitHub could not be reached or answered with an error. The reason follows the colon.
GitHub is limiting requests from this network. Try again later. See What PadForge sends.
The newest version has no build for this PC's processor yet. The newer version has no zip for your processor, which happens when a dev build's ARM64 job fails.
The download did not match the checksum GitHub published for it, so PadForge did not install it. The download was damaged, or the downloaded copy changed on disk before it ran. Click Install and Restart to download it again.
PadForge could not install the update: The download stopped responding. No data arrived for 60 seconds, or GitHub did not answer within 30 seconds.
PadForge could not install the update: The installer did not report that it started. The downloaded copy did not answer within 60 seconds and was stopped. PadForge keeps running as it was.
PadForge could not install the update: The installer closed as it started (exit code …). The downloaded copy exited before it reported in. PadForge keeps running as it was.
PadForge could not install the update: The installer did not stop when PadForge tried to end it. PadForge tried to stop the downloaded copy, which had not reported in or was no longer wanted, and could not confirm it stopped.
PadForge could not install the update: The download is a different build from the one this update names. The release on GitHub named one build while its file held another, which happens while a release is being replaced. Check again later.
PadForge was updated, but the new version could not start: … The install worked and the new version did not start. The message names the folder that holds a copy of the old one.
PadForge could not restart: … The update did not install or was skipped, and the previous version, still in place, did not start again. Start PadForge yourself.
The update failed, and PadForge could not put the previous version back. A copy of it is in this folder: … Copy PadForge.exe from that folder over the installed one.

Last updated for PadForge 5.0.0.